


Jack Of Spades

by digigirl02



Category: Now You See Me (Movies)
Genre: Backstory, Danny Is A Geek, First Meeting, Gen, Headcanon, Kid Jack, Magic Tricks, Pseudonyms, Teen Daniel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-27
Updated: 2016-07-27
Packaged: 2018-07-27 04:48:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,227
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7604059
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/digigirl02/pseuds/digigirl02
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Michael Evans was never one to believe in magic.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Jack Of Spades

**Author's Note:**

> Hello everyone, after taking a hiatus, I am back trying my hand at a new fandom. I haven’t written for awhile, so please excuse me if I am a bit rusty. First fic on site. As usual, I do not own any of the characters.

The Jack of Spades

Ten year old Michael Evans sat beside his best friend Robin on the hard bleachers while awaiting the assembly to begin. “You are in for a treat,” their fifth grade teacher told them as they headed to the stuffy and overcrowded gym, ”We are having a high school student come to perform some magic tricks for us”. Michael scoffed, while he was happy that he was going to be getting out of math class, he thought that the topic of their assembly was going to be a waste of time. After all things like magic, fairy tales and happy endings, for he considered them all to be one of the same to were for the weak. If fairy tales were indeed real then his father wouldn’t have walked out on his mother shortly after his youngest sister was born. If there was such a thing as magic,then his mother wouldn’t have to work two jobs to support her three children while they were stuck living in a shitty apartment in the crappiest neighborhood in town. And if happy endings were indeed real, then he wouldn’t be expected to raise his younger sisters while his mom was at work all the time. While occasionally having to pick pocket as a way to earn to some extra cash. If any of the aforementioned was indeed true, then maybe, just maybe would he be a bit more excited about the upcoming assembly.

Backstage, the recently turned seventeen year old Jesse Daniels painstakingly went through his magic kit for about the hundredth time. He hated being unprepared. This was going to be his first time performing in front of people that weren’t part of his family or one of the few friends he had obtained in spite of the many times that his family has moved through the years, and he was nervous yet excited. While at the local high school he was far from being the the most popular kid in his class,considering his obsession with magic tricks and all, so to be able to perform in front of a crowd who had no idea who he was is something that he had been looking forward to since he got his first deck of cards when he was eight. Nervously running his hand through his curly hair he once again mentally went through his act in his mind while waiting for the principle to introduce him. Slipping into the persona of J. Daniel Atlas, that he created for himself, he walked into the makeshift stage.

Michael was not impressed when he first got a glimpse of the scrawny geeky looking teenager on stage. He probably finds himself getting beaten up on a daily basis Michael thought to himself, what a loser. After introducing himself as the great J. Daniel Atlas, he asked for volunteers. Michael rolled his eyes as his classmates around him enthusiastically raised their hands. He watched as Daniel picked a girl from second grade to come onstage.

“The first act,” he told the crowd, “is going to be the classic Pick A Card.” Turning to the girl he showed her his deck of cards. “I want you to pick a card,” he told her, “but not this one,” he said showing her the card on top of the deck, “that would be too obvious.” Michael smirked as some of the kids in the crowd giggled. “Now I am going to flip through these cards and I want you to pick one.” The girl nodded as he quickly flipped through the cards. “Sorry about that,” he told her, “let me do it one more time, a bit slower this time. After flipping through the cards a second time he asked the girl if she had picked out a card, she nodded. Fanning the cards, he asked if her card was there. When she shook her head no, he smiled at her. “The thing about magic,” he told the crowd, “is that the closer you look, the less you see.” With a flourish, he pulled down the curtain on the back of the wall revealing the two of hearts. Asking her if that was indeed her card the girl nodded as they crowd clapped. Pulling out another deck of cards, he handed the girl the two of hearts and thanked her for her assistance. The girl smiling headed back to her friends to show off the card. Daniel smiled at the crowd and asked for the next volunteer. 

Despite himself, Michael found himself smiling as he watched the magician, performed an array of tricks from card tricks such as the “Power Of Four” and “Make A Prediction”, to some coin and rope tricks. After finishing “Give Me A Number Between One and Ten” he handed the boy the five of clubs card, he announced that he had time for one more trick. Michael, who became more enthralled in the performance as the time went on groaned with the others, not wanting the charismatic performer to leave. Subconsciously, he found himself raising his hand, and was surprised when he got called.

“This last trick,” he told Michael and the rest of the audience is called “Three Card Monte,” or as it is also known as “Find The Lady.” The rules are simple”, he said as Michael approached the table. “I am going to show you one card, this lovely queen of hearts. All you have to do keep your eyes on it as I move it around with these two other cards.”he said. Showing him the Jack of Spades and Jack of Clubs. “Now watch closely.” Michael watched as Daniel shifted the cards around. Pointing to the middle card, Daniel flipped it over revealing the correct card. “Good job,” he told Michael, “lets see if you can do it again ” Shifting the cards quicker this time he asked Michael to find the lady. Confident that he knew what card it was, he pointed to the third card. Daniel flipped over the card. It was the Jack of Spades. Letting him choose once more, Michael picked the first card, it was revealed to be the Jack of Clubs. Frustrated, he pointed to the middle and final card certain that it was the correct card. But he was wrong. It was the Ace of Spades. “Tough luck buddy,” he told him as he handed him the Jack of Spades. “Better luck next time.” After shaking the boy’s hand, he took a bow. “Thank you for being such a great audience, “ he told the cheering crowd,” and remember, the closer you look…” 

“The less you see,” the audience said in one voice as they continued their applause. Turning to Michael, the magician winked at him before disappearing for his sight. Looking at the card he was given awoken something in the boy and for the first time it felt like the card was speaking to him. He wanted to know how the trick he just witnessed was done as well as the others he had previously seen before. He vowed to learn all of the tricks and follow in the teen’s footsteps by also become a magician. It was in that moment, he transformed from Michael Evans, just another poor kid nobody from Brooklyn, to Jack Wilder, master sleigh of hand street magician, and future horseman.


End file.
